Managing Direct And Indirect Costs

There are two types of costs "direct" and "indirect." Direct costs are also called "variable costs" and refer to costs that are a direct result of producing, delivering, or returning your product/service. Examples of these are materials and labor needed to produce/deliver the product that only occur once you sell the product, transactions costs like visa commissions, sometimes shipping charges, etc.

Indirect costs are also called "fixed costs" and refer to expenses that your business will have regardless of sales volume. Examples of ithese are rent, utilities, wages that are not based upon commission, interest expense, advertising, automobile, etc. The tricky aspect of these are that a cost may increase with increased sales, e.g. an increase in sales may require overtime or the addition of staff but the relationship is not direct.

A good tool for managing direct and indirect costs is to monitor the costs on your monthly income statement using percent of sales. Divide the cost by total sales.

Direct costs as a percent of sales will remain within a narrow margin, e.g. materials costs if 30% of sales at $1,000 sales then materials should be right around 30% at the $5,000 sales level. The actual dollar amount of materials used to produce more products will go up but as a percent of sales, it will remain close to 30%. What would lower the percent is if you got a better deal from your supplier.

Your indirect costs when monitored as a percent of sales will respond differently. For example, rent equaling $500 per month remains $500 per month even if your sales increase to $5,000. $500 divided by $1,000 in sales equals 50%. $500 divided by $5,000 in sales equals 10%. (It is that old math axiom in action here: A numerator divided into a larger denominator produces a smaller fraction.)

So why is this important? Knowing the difference between direct and indirect costs provides you with a couple of valuable management tools, break-even analysis, and your contribution margin. Break-even analysis is a handy management tool for quickly determining if a solution is feasible. Contribution margin is the remaining profit after direct costs are taken out of a sale. For example, if you sell a bookcase for $250 and it cost you $75 to make your contribution margin is $175 or 70%. The contribution pays for all the Fixed expenses/overhead.

A good way of organizing these costs is to put all the direct costs in the "Cost of Goods" section and the indirect costs in the expense area of your income statement. By doing this Gross Profit equals Contribution Margin and is automatically calculated for you.

Another reason to identify your direct costs is when bidding in a competitive environment. Ever wonder how your competitor beat you on a bid??

Imagine a situation where you know you have covered your overhead expenses for the month with normally bid projects. A quick project comes up for bid around the 15th of the month and you have a crew available to work on it. You figure it will be very competitive and if you use your usual estimating process on it you will not get the project. Since you have already covered all your expenses for the month and any margin above your direct costs is profit. Plus you have a crew that it would be better to have working on a project and being paid by a client versus cleaning the shop being paid by your profits. You decide to aggressively go after the project with a bid slightly above your direct costs.

Business Equipment Needs

Every business requires equipment at some point. Your business may need computers, vehicles, manufacturing machines, factory equipment and is entirely dependent on the type of business you are running.

Imagine the business equipment needs of a simple business like a coffee shop, for example. You'll need to acquire, in addition to business premises, one or more good quality coffee makers or espresso machines, tables and chairs for your customers, refrigeration units, storage units, a dishwasher and mugs and serving ware. That's quite a list, and quite an outlay for a new business - all before you open your doors. There are, however, a number of different ways that you can acquire equipment and other assets for your business without having to part with your liquid assets by making payments up front.

Operating Lease

An operating lease allows you to acquire the equipment you need for your business without a large initial outlay. In addition, you get up to 90% of the resale value.

The advantages of an operating lease include:

* lower rental fees
* the ability to use the equipment without owning it
* there is no need to dig into other lines of credit to finance a purchase
* your rental fees may be deductible from taxes as operating expenses
* there are other tax advantages, including avoidance of depreciation

Asset Finance Lease

A finance lease allows you to use the equipment you need without owning it. When the lease ends, you may get a percentage of the resale profit in the form of a rental rebate.

The advantages of a business asset finance lease for your equipment include:

* Low initial expenses
* Easily arranged through many vendors
* Monthly fees are a fixed expense
* Leased equipment is a balance sheet asset
* Maintenance contract is often included as part of the monthly rental fee
* Use of equipment without ownership
* Rental fees may be deducted from taxes as operating expense
* Frees up or preserves other lines of credit for other uses
* A percentage of resale price may be available as a rental rebate

Hire Purchase

Hire purchase represents an excellent way to acquire equipment without paying the entire cost up front. The advantages of hire purchase include:

* immediate use of the equipment that you need
* fixed or variable rates of interest available on loans
* the interest on your commercial loans may be tax allowable
* consistent monthly payments make bookkeeping easier
* ownership of the asset at the end of the payment term
* can often be tailored with payment holidays or stepping payments to allow the equipment to start generating profits
* balance sheet asset

Most manufacturers and suppliers will work with you in many different types of finance and purchase arrangements. Once you know the type of equipment you need, shop around to find out what finance and purchase arrangements are available to you. A trained business consultant may be of use in helping you decide between asset finance and hire options.